In the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2022, out of 121 countries, India has fallen to the 107th position. In 2021 it was at the 101st position.
Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal are ahead of India in this ranking. Irish aid agency Concern Worldwide and German organisation Welt Hunger Hilfe, the level of hunger in India “serious”, as per the report.
The Global Hunger Index (GHI) score is calculated based on four indicators — undernourishment; child wasting is the share of children under the age of five who are wasted i.e who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition; child stunting, where children under the age of five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition and child mortality is the mortality rate of children under the age of five.
In 2021, out of 116 countries, India was ranked 101. Now the list comprises of 121 countries and India has dropped to the 107th rank. India’s GHI score has also decelerated – in 2000 from 38.8 to the range of 28.2 – 29.1 between 2014 and 2022.
On Saturday, the website of the Global Hunger Index that tracks hunger and malnutrition where seventeen countries, including China, Turkey, and Kuwait, shared the top rank with GHI score of less than five. P Chidambaram, Congress MP, said our score has worsened since 2014 in the 8 years of the Narendra Modi-led government, citing the report. On his twitter handle he twitted, “When will the Hon’ble PM address real issues like malnutrition, hunger, and stunting and wasting among children?” he asked on Twitter.
The first task of any government is to overcome the challenges of poverty, hunger and malnutrition
Sadly, the Modi government is in denial mode as was evident when it rejected India's 107 ranking in the Global Hunger Index
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) October 18, 2022
For the past five years, India’s ranking in the GHI has been falling starkly. From 97th position in 2016, India fell to 107th this year. In 2017, it was 100th, in 2021, it was 101st.
The statement given by the goverment says “It is shocking to find that the Global Hunger Report 2021 has lowered the rank of India on the basis of FAO (UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation) estimate on proportion of undernourished population, which is found to be devoid of ground reality and facts and suffers from serious methodological issues. The publishing agencies of the Global Hunger Report, Concern Worldwide and Welt Hunger Hilfe, have not done their due diligence before releasing the report,”